Scope and Content Note:

This group of photographs, taken between the years 1899 and 1913, documents bridges, dams, gauging stations, hydro-power plants, and other hydraulic structures found on waterways throughout New York State. This includes lakes, rivers, streams, reservoirs, and canals, many of which are part of the Hudson-Mohawk River watershed. Several of these photographs show sites along the Esopus Creek in Ulster County, which at the time were being considered for the proposed New York City water supply reservoir. Sites depicted in these photographs are found in the following counties: Albany, Broome, Clinton, Dutchess, Essex/Franklin, Fulton, Greene, Hamilton, Herkimer, Jefferson, Lewis, Livingston, Madison, Montgomery, Nassau, Niagara, Oneida, Orange, Orleans, Oswego, Otsego, Putnam, Rensselaer, Rockland, Saint Lawrence, Saratoga, Schenectady, Schoharie, Tompkins, Ulster, Warren, Washington, and Westchester. There are also six unidentified photographs; nine photographs that depict waterways from out-of-state (Connecticut, New Jersey and Michigan), and eleven photos of abandoned waterwheels (Items 233-243).

The majority of the images are approximately 5 x 7 inches (13 x 18 cm) but there are a number which are smaller and larger. Each image, with the exception of two of the unidentified photographs, has been labeled on the verso in pencil, or typewritten, as to its location and the date. The photographs are arranged alphabetically by county. Some of the photos are labeled with the letters R.E.H. (possibly Robert E. Horton, whose name is on Photograph 33) and J.P.N., possibly the initials of the photographer. (See the Robert E. Horton Papers, SC16672.)

Of particular note are Photograph 114, labeled “Hop field on Wilson farm, Cherry Valley, N.Y., July 26, 1913,” showing a man, woman, boy and girl standing next to a man (?) sitting in a sulky-style piece of equipment hitched to a horse wearing a feedbag, and Photograph 147, labeled “Hoffman’s Ferry, slope gaging [i.e., gauging] station, 1901,” showing two men standing on the ferry next to two horses hitched to a four-wheeled wagon that appears to be carrying milk cans; a rowboat is tied to the ferry.

Biographical Note:

Robert Elmer Horton (1875-1945) was a hydraulic engineer and hydrologist, who was employed for much of his professional career as New York District Engineer of the U.S. Geological Survey. In this position he conducted numerous studies from which he could establish a quantitative basis for the analysis of the drainage of networks of streams. The empirical rules he discovered and set forth are generally referred to as Horton’s laws.

Saranac River Dam, Plattsburg, N.Y.; river at flood height [Initially included the words “looking southwest” but those two words are crossed out.] / Dam in foreground; buildings in foreground and background; steeple of a church is highest point in picture]

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27

Saranac River Dam No. 9; Kent’s Falls, view looking southwest from top of penstock where it enters the mill. / [Brdige across water in foreground]

Saranac River High Falls, (abandoned power at head of falls, Dam No 17) view of lower drop of falls from north bank. Total head available with 40 feet dam at head of rapids, one-half mile distant 240 feet.

Morgan’s Dam, West Canada Creek, Trenton Falls, N.Y. / [Wooden structure built on stone pilings on left side of picture]

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31

102

Flooded Tracks, New York Central R[ail] R[oad] at Utica, N.Y. High Water of Mohawk River, 1901. / [Wooden buildings on right side of picture; man standing near track; telegraph/telephone poles run along the tracks]

Hop field on Wilson Farm, Cherry Valley, N.Y., July 26, 1913. / [Hop field in background; man, woman, boy and girl standing next to a man (?) sitting in a sulky-style piece of equipment hitched to a horse wearing a feedbag] R.E.H.

Hoffman’s Ferry, slope gaging [i.e., gauging] station, 1901 / [Two men are standing on the ferry next to two horses hitched to a four-wheeled wagon that appears to be carrying milk cans; a rowboat is tied to the ferry.]

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46

148

Mohawk River at Freeman’s Bridge, up-streamside, below Schenectady, N.Y. / [Bridge stretches from right to left side of image.]

East Canada Creek, High Falls, N.Y., 1900 [Note: East Canada Creek rises in Hamilton County and crosses Fulton County before forming the boundary between Fulton and Herkimer counties. High Falls is in Ulster County. It appears a mistake was made by the person who labeled the photographs.]

Proposed reservoir site on Esopus River at junction with Stony Clove Creek, Phoenicia, N.Y., June 8, 1901, where New York’s new water supply is to come from. U.S.G.S gagings this stream are the basis of estimates for yield and storage.

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58

192

Same as 191

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193

Delaware and Hudson Canal feeder dam across Rondout River at Port Hickson, N.Y., June 9, 1901

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194

Same as 193

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195

Timber Dam, Shawangunk River at Red Mills, N.Y., June 10, 1901.

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196

Dashville Falls on Wallkill River near Rosendale, N.Y., June 10, 1901.

[Photograph taken on December 31, 1965, with caption from the Enterprise, Jan. 14, 1966: Photo of the West Shore Railroad trestle bridge and the falls at the Watervliet Reservoir dam at French’s Hollow, near Guilderland Center]

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245

[Newspaper article: “Legend of the Cohoes: Source of a City,” by D.X. Campbell, Times Union, March 3, 1968; includes drawing of the Cohoes Falls on the Mohawk River, New York; drawing is labeled: Copied from the original sketched by Gov’r. Pownal & Eng’d by Wm Elliot]